They actually don't all die, of course. Mosquito eggs will overwinter in the soil, or sometimes water, where temperatures are much more constant and warmer as compared to the atmospheric temperature, and then re-emerge once conditions are favorable again! Lots of insects do this.

Some mosquitoes are also still active, even as adults, in the winter, they're just usually localized. Some will keep a cycle going near animal nests, or in burrows like the ones made by woodchucks and such, or if they've been abandoned, they'll use them there, too.

Way up north, there are species that are much more snow tolerant, too, which leads to seemingly "unfair" conditions where it could be a blizzard and you're actually getting bitten by mosquitoes before they slow down to overwinter. A friend of mine does research on bryophytes in Alaska and described that exact situation to me: he was out in the field while it was snowing and mosquitoes were climbing under his jacket to bite him!

Their conclusions seemed to be that other animals would fill their ecological niche, which I think is probably true; however, I think it's a very broad sweeping assumption that probably had more ramifications than the article suggests.

I find that article to be very irresponsible. It mostly ignores that, like you said, we don't know what the ramifications would be. Obviously, people without knowledge of ecology are going to jump on the kill-all-mosquitos bandwagon because mosquitos aren't particularly popular.

Some of the statements in the article are also misleading or misinformed. Yes, adult mosquitoes make up a very small proportion of the stomach contents of adult migratory birds in the arctic - but what about the stomach contents of the young waterfowl, and the importance of the aquatic mosquito larvae in their diet?

In many areas, mosquito larvae are practically the only macro-invertebrates in those ephemeral pools. That food resource may be a big reason why those birds head north in the summer at all. Disrupting that food chain could indeed have important ecological ramifications worldwide.

Of course, it's all pretty academic, as we've been trying with our most potent tools available to get rid of mosquitoes for millenia, and haven't done much more than localized temporary reduction.

Now I'm imagining a world in which mosquitoes reign supreme. Tiny little humans give mosquitoes itchy bites and the giant mosquitoes swat and kill the humans. These aren't the thoughts I wanted to have on the weekend.

Way up north, there are species that are much more snow tolerant, too, which leads to seemingly "unfair" conditions where it could be a blizzard and you're actually getting bitten by mosquitoes. A friend of mine does research on bryophytes in Alaska and described that exact situation to me: he was out in the field while it was snowing and mosquitoes were climbing under his jacket to bite him!

I love crows! They are just the coolest and my favorite animals. Forget what I said about your terrifying mosquito post, I am in quite a happy mood right now. Except the mosquitoes gotta ruin that too, huh?

Hey, you might be interested in the research that we've been doing at Earlham College - we tested all of the (dead) corvid specimens at our natural history museum for West Nile, iirc all of them came back positive for it.

A lot of good museum specimens wouldn't surprise me if they tested positive, the birds that die of West Nile look great. Since they die within five days or so of contracting the disease, they don't look bedraggled or roughed up like how we would think a "sick" animal should look.

Yeah, my friend was doing the DNA collection and it was only when the results came back that she just realized she had been personally handling WNV for several days. Kinda sobering. Good thing she wore gloves!

The crazy thing is, we had been handling them without gloves in our ornithology and biodiversity classes for the last five years...

That's because Cal makes you weak. I had a coworker move from Boston to NorCal. The first winter he was laughing at all of us, the second he was bundled up in a windbreaker every day. When the temperature for any given day of the year is "almost perfect" you loose any ability to handle real weather.

Yeah pretty much. It's the best feeling. And then you get tired of the cold and you're like "Please summer come back." And then the hot ass summer come back and you're like "FUUUUUUCCCCKKK SATAN WE'RE SORRY"

Mosquitos don't die when it gets cold. They actually just hibernate, and it takes a while for their breeding cycles to catch up. That's the reason why there are less Mosquitos seen right after a cold winter.

I had an infestation. Cleared out pretty quickly. I set up many fruit fly traps around the house (banana + vinegar in a tall glass, a paper funnel over the glass so flies can go in but not out). When you have enough in there, I would toss it in the freezer to kill them. Also, throw out your trash daily/don't leave fruits out on the counter. You want to starve them so they only go to the traps to 'eat.'

I see what you did there! Actually the old row houses were still fairly well intact and we restored those as well. The two closest to the house proper we turned into guest houses. The other four we restored using some of the local historians to help us make it authentic. They do tours occasionally. We felt it was important to keep some of the history there. You know the old saying, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

I hate those fuckers. I'm actually happy for your temporary respite even though I don't know you. My wife gets a bite like three times a summer or something...when we sit outside, I get eaten alive while she just sits there and wonders what's wrong. Must have 'special' blood. Actually she has a clotting disorder...clots too much...I've always wondered if the fucking mosquito can't suck it cuz it's too clotty or something...dunno